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Monday, May 21, 2012

The Clever Hen by Saragine Francois

The Clever Hen

Saragine Francois

Illustrated by Yoko Matsuoka

The Clever hen, Ms Cleever is different than the other hens. With
great cat like glasses, and her love of reading, Ms. Cleever tends to stay to
herself. She is not interested in helping any of the other hens and has a lack
of respect and rudeness toward the other barnyard animals. The horse and pig
try to interact with her and she snubs them.

Months later (this huge gap in the time felt out of place in the
story to me), Ms. Cleever has her first batch of chicks and is clueless how to
care for them. After the way she has treated everyone else, they aren’t too
eager to pitch in to help her.

What goes around comes around, or you sow what you reap are bothy
good descriptions of this life lesson that Ms. Cleever has to learn. Can she
learn her flaws and realize she needs to turn her attitude around?

A nice ‘teaching story’ with beautiful illustrations. Love the farm
animal theme and I believe young readers will be drawn to it. Everyone loves a
great farm story, and what better than a snobby old hen who looks much like a
grouchy librarian!. I love children’s books that give a clear, and honorable
message to the reader!